Hi,

New to the PsychCentral forums - and I have been doing research on REBT therapy lately. I have been suffering from depression due to some life losses and circumstances lately and I have been looking into different therapies. I have a burning questions here - has anybody experience Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy? All I can see on Google about it is so much Albert Ellis who founded this therapy. When I research the therapy - I do not understand why Ellis is so revered as he tended to be very abrasive on his patients - calling them names - forcing them at times to accept what he said - arguing with them sometimes viciously - calling people who are romantic - "love slobs" and the like - swearing at national Psych forums. I can't understand why he was so revered - as a person with depression/OCD and a lot of struggle in my life - this is a major turn off for me for this school of therapy and I do not at condone the way he and some the people who run the Institute tend to express their ideas onto those who are treated with this. They call us "irrational" and "disturbed" in our thinking and yet all people like myself want to do is love other people and be loved and lead decent lives. Why this is made fun of by Ellis in some of his writings, songs, and films I am at a loss to understand. I don't get why Psychology in general tends to have such a reverence for him when most of them would never treat a depressed patient or talk about them in this manner. Anybody have any insight into this or am I just putting myself out on a ledge?